Questions about the Sunday of the Blind Man

Answers only

ANSWER 1

The story of the healing of the man born blind from birth only appears in the
Gospel of the Holy Apostle John, and is read, appropriately enough, on the
"Sunday of the Blind Man", the sixth Sunday of Pascha.

Jesus met a blind man, as He was passing by. His disciples, who just recently
had seen Him admonish the paralytic to "sin no more", asked the Lord why this man
had been born blind. Our Lord not only answers their question and corrects their
misjudgment, but as was so often the case, also used their question to expound on
deeper theology. He then spat on the ground, and made a paste out of the clay,
and anointed the blind man's eyes, then ordered him to go wash in the pool of
Siloam. This he did, and came away seeing.

The Jews were angry because of this miracle, and interrogated the formerly
blind man in the temple. He bore their questions with great dignity and honesty,
and gradually became more bold in his answers, until the blinded Jews cast him
out of the temple. Jesus then found him again, and the blind man saw the Lord for
the first time. He believed in Him, and worshipped Him.

ANSWER 2

The disciples, upon seeing the blind man, thought that he must have suffered
for the same reason that the paralytic, (whom the disciples had just recently
seen healed) was lame, and they asked Jesus: " Master, who did sin, this man,
or his parents, that he was born blind?"(John 9:2) This was an understandable
question, since it is clear that our physical infirmities are sometimes caused by
our own sins. In this case, however, the Lord corrected them, saying: "Neither
hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made
manifest in him."(John 9:3)

ANSWER 3

When Christ spat on the ground, and made a paste out of the clay and anointed
the blind man's "eyes", He actually created eyes for him. The services
mention this wondrous detail:

Along the way, our Savior found / a man who lacked both sight and eyes. /
And making clay with His spittle, / the Lord anointed him therewith. / He sent
the man to Siloam, that he might go and wash therein. / And having washed as he
was told, / O Christ, he came away seeing, / and he beheld Thy divine light.
(Expostilarion, Matins for the Sunday of the Blind Man)

Having, like an abundance of wealth, the form and members which comprise
this our mortal flesh, the man who was blind from birth could neither imagine nor
think what the form or nature of this world could be; for he also was endowed
with a genuine lack of eyes ... (Vespers, Sunday of
the Blind man, Lord I have cried, sticheron 2)

ANSWER 4

The blind man not only had no eyes and had seen no man; he also did not know
Christ. Jesus first healed his eyes, and upon meeting him again, healed the eyes
of his soul. He who was formerly blind both in his physical eyes and those of his
soul now could clearly see out of both. The services for the Sunday of the Blind
Man are replete with references to spiritual blindness, and supplication to be
delivered from it.

" O Christ God, Thou spiritual Sun of Righteousness, / Who by Thine
immaculate touch / didst bestow a two-fold enlightenment upon him / who from his
mother's womb was deprived of sight, / illumine Thou the eyes of our souls also,
/ and prove us to be sons of the day, / that we may cry to Thee with faith: /
Great and ineffable is Thy compassion toward us, O Friend of man; // Glory be to
Thee." Aposticha, Vespers for the Blind Man)

"Who can tell of Thy mighty acts, O Christ, / or who can number the
multitudes of Thy wonders? / For even as Thou, in Thy goodness, didst appear on
earth twofold of nature, / so didst Thou grant twofold healings to the sick; /
for Thou didst open not only the bodily eyes of the man / who was blind from the
womb, / but those of his soul also. / Wherefore, he confessed Thee, the hidden
God, // Who grantest great mercy unto all." (Glory from the Praises, Matins
for the Sunday of the Blind Man)

The paralytic by the sheep's pool, whom we only just considered the previous
Sunday, was also healed of his physical infirmity first, then enlightened as to
the cause of his affliction. For the Lord healed him, then later admonished him
to "...sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee." ". (John 5:14)

Another paralytic, who had been lowered down through the roof of Simon Peter's
house, was also given two healings. First Jesus forgave his sins, and then gave
strength to his legs. (Mark 2:3-12)

ANSWER 5

Jesus healed the blind man on the Sabbath. Some of the Jews will filled with
jealousy and envy, and used the healing on the Sabbath day as a pretext for their
displeasure. Their dialogue with the formerly blind man shows clearly their
lamentable hatred.

ANSWER 6

When Christ anointed the eyes of the blind man with spittle and clay, He
demanded that he go wash in the pool of Siloam. This blessed man did not object,
even though in every outward sense, this act and order was very peculiar. He
stumbled to the pool, all the while feeling the eyes of all upon him, who could
not see. He must have looked pathetic - a blind man with mud caked on his face
stumbling through the city. This first great act (of obedience, which is a
hallmark of true faith) of the blind man affected the physical healing of his
eyes. After he washed in the pool, his eyes and eyesight were made whole.

The envious Jews did not want to believe in this miracle, even though it was
obvious that it had happened. They interrogated the man in a threatening way.
This man had never seen Christ, and knew very little about Him. He answered their
leading questions simply and elegantly, and these blasphemers unwittingly
contributed to his second healing.

As the absurdity of the Jew's questions and their true motives became
apparent, he who was formerly blind began to understand a little about Christ. It
is clear that he still did not understand things completely, but he nevertheless
showed remarkable courage, and rebuked the foolish Jews with an ironic question,
in response to another foolish inquiry by them: "He answered them, I have told
you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye hear it again? Will ye also
be his disciples?" (John 9:27). This courageous rebuke incensed the council,
and they roared like lions: "Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses'
disciples. {29} We know that God spake unto Moses: as for
this fellow, we know not from whence he is." (John 9:28-29). He who was blind
stood alone, and undefended. His parents had deserted him, and he understood that
he was in danger of being put out of the synagogue. Many men would back down in
such an instance, and try to appease the leaders, because of fear. He still did
not understand completely from "whence" Jesus was, but his breast was filled with
conviction and courage, as he sealed his fate among those who love the world more
than God, and said: " Why herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not from
whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. {31} Now
we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and
doeth his will, him he heareth. {32} Since the world began
was it not heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.
{33} If this man were not of God, he could do
nothing." (John 9:30-33). For this, he was cast out.

After this, Jesus sought him out, a man who had gained eyes, but lost his
patrimony and all standing in Jewish society. Certainly, Christ would not have
presented himself again to a coward. The man had been courageous in defending Him
Whom he had never seen, and because of this, he was vouchsafed to see and
understand the God-man.

"Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said
unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? {36} He
answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him? {37} And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he
that talketh with thee. {38} And he said, Lord, I believe.
And he worshipped him." (John 9:35-38)

ANSWER 7

Since Pascha, the church has studied the holy process of the illumination of
the soul with truth. The day of the resurrection, the Disciples of Christ hardly
believed until Christ had shown them in diverse ways. Mary Magdalene saw an empty
tomb, and conversed with an angel, but her understanding was not opened until
Christ, Whom she mistook for the gardener, appeared unto her, alone, near the
tomb. The two apostles of the Seventy, Luke and Cleophas, conversed with the
God-man all the way to the village of Emmaus, and did not recognize Him. When He
sat at meat with them, and broke bread, then they were illumined fully, and He
vanished from their sight. The Holy Apostle Peter, still shaking inwardly because
of his thricefold denial of Christ, saw an empty tomb with John, and heard the
report of the Myrrh-bearing women, but he could not truly believe until Christ
appeared to him, alone, and he who lamented his moment of weakness was vouchsafed
to be the first apostle to see the risen Lord. Thomas doubted until eight days
after the resurrection, when Christ appeared to him among the other apostles, and
bade him to touch His wounds. The formerly doubting one then was the first to
confess the dual nature of Christ, saying "My Lord and my God". All these events
were explored from Pascha through the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing women, the
third Sunday of Pascha.

The church then turned its spiritual gaze towards the paralytic who had lain
by the sheep's pool for 38 years. The Lord healed his legs, and afterwards,
enlightened his soul, showing him that his infirmity had been because of his
sins. The woman by the well, a stranger to Israel, was evangelized by the God-man
in the heat of the day. She learned of the true faith, and became an apostle to
her people, saying: "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I
did: is not this the Christ?" (John 4:29). On the Sunday following, a man who
was formerly blind in his physical and spiritual sight had both restored.

All of these events from sacred history deserve careful scrutiny. These are
stories of how God approached man, and taught him to see the truth. They were
approached in different ways, by the same God-man, and learned the same truth.
May we derive comfort and instruction from reading of how the God-man revealed
Himself to those who loved Him.

ANSWER 8

The blind man's trip to Siloam was an astounding act of simple obedience. The
request was strange, and the appearance of a man with mud on his face stumbling
through the city even stranger. The unfortunate man had to endure stumbling and
falling among the stones, but the shouts and derision of those who saw his
misfortune were the more painful blows. This journey had a dual purpose. It
tested the blind man, and memorialized his virtue, and also made it impossible
for the envious Jews to credibly deny the miracle.

"But wherefore did He not this at once, instead of sending him to Siloam?
That thou mayest learn the faith of the blind man, and that the obstinacy of the
Jews might be silenced: for it was probable that they would all see him as he
departed, having the clay spread upon his eyes, since by the strangeness of the
thing he would attract to himself all, both those who did and those who did not
know him, and they would observe him exactly." (HOMILY 57 JOHN 9:6, 7)

When you gaze upon the journey of the blind man, do you not see a model for
prayer? We must pray with obedience, simply and with great and prolonged effort.
We must not allow any obstacle to destroy our faith, and the prayer that proceeds
from this faith. Are not all these virtues shown in the obedient walk of the
blind man?

ANSWER 9

"I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night
cometh, when no man can work." ((John 9:4)

"What mean these words? To what conclusion do they lead? To an important
one. For what He saith is of this kind. "While it is day, while men may believe
on Me, while this life lasteth, I must work." "The night cometh," that is,
futurity, "when no man can work." He said not, "when I cannot work," but, "when
no man can work": that is, when there is no longer faith, nor labors, nor
repentance. For to show that He calleth faith, a "work," when they say unto Him,
"What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?" (c. 6:28), He replieth,
"This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." How then can
no man work this work in the future world? Because there faith is not, but all,
willingly, or unwillingly, will submit." (St. John Chrysostom, Sermon 56 on
St. John, John 9:1,2)

ANSWER 10

Naaman was the captain of the host of the king of Syria and also a leper. A
slave who was the mistress of Naaman's wife kindly told her "... Would God my
lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! For he would recover him of his
leprosy." (2 Ki 5:3). The King of Syria loved Naaman, so he sent him to the
prophet Elisha with all the trappings of wealth and pomp befitting a favorite
retainer of a king: "And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I will send a
letter unto the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of
silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. " (2 Ki
5:5)

When Naaman finally gained an audience with the prophet Elisha, the prophet's
instructions seemed strange and made the great man angry:

" And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven
times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.
{11} But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said,
Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name
of the LORD his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.
{12} Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better
than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned
and went away in a rage. " (2 Ki 5:10-12)

Naaman did not obey in simplicity, because he did not understand and was
proud, but God did not abandon him. His wise counselors told him:

"... if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not
have done it? How much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?
" (2 Ki 5:13)

Then Naaman obeyed, and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, and was
cleansed.

Please read the 5th chapter of 2 Kings to see this wondrous story for
yourself.